I was ordained July 10, 1987, when General Superintendent, Dr. Earle Wilson, laid hands on me, shook my hand, and declared, "Take Thou Authority to Preach the Word!" I was thinking about that recently, and began to wonder how far back I could go with the succession of my ordination. So, I did a little research. I was ordained by Earle Wilson Earle Wilson was ordained by Pilgrim Holiness General Superintendent, William Neff William Neff was ordained by the Pilgrim founder, Seth Rees Seth Rees was ordained by Nazarene founder, Phineas Bresee Phineas Bresee was ordained by Methodist Bishop, Levi Scott Levi Scott was ordained by Elijah Hedding. Elijah Hedding was ordained by Francis Asbury Francis Asbury was ordained by a renegade Anglican priest named John Wesley John Wesley was ordained by Anglican Bishop (of Oxford) John Potter. From Potter -- there's a trail all the way back to St. Peter!! You can see the chart here. (Potter is at the bottom of the page #90. Now, how abo...
I had not realized until just recently how true this really is. I had been discussing with my pastor why more men do not step forward into leadership roles in the church. Leadership is tough, there is always the element of the unknown and along with that comes the possibility of failure. No one wants to fail, but for men I believe this can be a paralyzing fear. When a man is faced with the prospect of being out in front the thought of failure is enough to cause him to want to follow rather than lead.
ReplyDeleteIn light of this, I believe every church has an untapped resource of leaders, when given the tools of leadership, support and Biblical instruction; leadership can be turned into an adventure rather than fear. I believe the Lord has given me the desire and vision to lead the men’s fellowship in my church. We are starting out with a strong inner circle of leaders. This small group will meet to develop a purpose statement and study leadership techniques. However, our focus will be prayer, prayer for each other and prayer for those who will follow. What lies ahead I do not know, except the adventure begins!
We are out ahead , in the lead but we are not alone , from time to time I feel the inspiration of His Spirit and then again up ahead in the bend in the road or at the crest of the hill I see Him beckoning ,as if to say, “This is the way, walk you in it.”
In response to Gary, I think his views are true of women, teens, and children as well. There are many times when the fear of failure can be paralyzing - is this a human nature response? I think it is and it is one that can be overcome in trusting God's leading, being who he created us to be and being strong and courageous enough to be obedient to whatever He leads us to. After all, we have the power of the Holy Spirit with us!
ReplyDeleteDon't wait until the children become adults to train them in leadership. Some of them have that spiritual gift already and are looking how to use it. Where are they going to look if the church isn't showing them Biblical ways to lead? They are going to look to the world -
I am thankful that the leadership that is needed is found right here in our local church! That's just like God to equip us with the tools and the people to do what He has for us to do!